8/22 Kitsap shores, coal trains, Elwha Love, water bottling, Old Town Dock, downwind rule

Skull Cove (Laurie MacBride)

Laurie MacBride in Eye on Environment writes: “Along parts of the British Columbia coast, boaters refer to August as “Fogust”, for good reason. As warm, moist air moves over the colder sea surface, fog forms overnight, and often doesn’t dissipate until the next afternoon. It can make for some tricky traveling....”  Fogust: Love It or Loathe It 

New blog: “I’m reminded of giving a talk about runoff pollution and how preserving wetlands could offset the costs of treating pollutants in runoff.  During the subsequent discussion, I was reminded by two women sitting in the front row that I should not forget that these wetlands are also good simply for the birds and the animals that live there....” The Selfish Environmentalist

The Kitsap County Planning Commission has proposed that 22 additional shoreline areas be designated "natural," the most-protective zone available in the county's revised Shorelines Master Program. Most of the additions, which include miles of undeveloped shoreline along Hood Canal, were previously considered borderline between "natural" and "rural conservative," according to Kitsap County shorelines planner Dave Greetham. The "natural" designation, with standard buffers of 200 feet, is reserved for areas relatively untouched by humans. Christopher Dunagan reports. More shoreline meets 'natural' criteria, planners say  

A string of derailments of trains carrying coal has galvanized opponents of new coal export terminals in the Pacific Northwest, who are concerned that more traffic in their communities would compromise health, the environment and public safety. Early Tuesday, a CSX coal train turned over on its side in Ellicott City, Md., near Baltimore. Two college students were killed, and the accident closed roads and businesses. Last month, a Union Pacific coal train derailed on a highway overpass near Chicago, killing two people in a car on the road below. Recent derailments of coal trains in Washington state and Texas resulted in no fatalities, but they added to the debate over transporting coal. Curtis Tate reports.  Train derailments fuel debate over transporting coal  

Lake Mills is reduced to a large puddle, Lake Aldwell is gone, plants are starting to grow in the empty lakebeds, and the salmon already are coming back to stretches of the Elwha River where they haven’t been seen for 100 years. In all, it was a very good year of progress on the Elwha River’s recovery, Todd Suess, acting superintendent of Olympic National Park, told an audience of about 200 at Peninsula College’s Little Theater on Monday. The gathering was the first of two free public events during the four-day 2012 Elwha River Science Symposium. Arwyn Rice reports.  Scientists tells of Elwha restoration progress during symposium   And: More king salmon sightings upriver in Elwha

Residents on both sides of the issue spoke at Monday night’s City Council meeting about the proposal to add about 11 acres of property to the city’s urban growth area with the possibility of siting the Tethys Enterprises bottling plant there. Twenty-five business leaders and residents spoke in front of the crowd of roughly 100 people. Proponents of the addition cited the jobs and economic advantages of adding the property. Opponents took issue with the process, citing lack of public participation, as well as the potential transportation and environmental impacts and large size of the Tethys proposal with several calling the company a “vulture” capital firm. The council opted to postpone any decision on whether the urban growth area process should move forward until its Tuesday, Sept. 4 meeting. Kimberly Jacobson reports. Public weighs in on potential Tethys site

Tacoma’s Old Town Dock might finally be available for public use next summer – nearly five years after the city barred access because of deterioration. The Tacoma City Council awarded to Quigg Bros., Inc., of Aberdeen a $1.7 million contract Monday for renovations to the dock on Ruston Way. The project, which is scheduled for completion in June 2013, will replace deteriorated wooden pilings and decking that made the dock a hazard to pedestrians. Tacoma City Council OKs $1.7M contract to repair Old Town Dock

A federal appeals court on Tuesday overturned a federal rule that laid out how much air pollution states would have to clean up to avoid incurring violations in downwind states. The decision sends the Environmental Protection Agency, and perhaps even Congress, back to the drawing board in what has become a long and paralyzing argument over how to mesh a system of state-by-state regulation with the problem of industrial smokestacks pumping pollutants into a single atmosphere.  Court Blocks E.P.A. Rule on Cross-State Pollution  

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT WED AUG 22 2012
TODAY
W WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT. W SWELL 3 FT AT 9 SECONDS. AREAS OF DRIZZLE THIS MORNING.
TONIGHT
W WIND 15 TO 20 KT...EASING TO 10 TO 15 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 3 FT AT 8 SECONDS. A CHANCE
 OF RAIN OR DRIZZLE AFTER MIDNIGHT.

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